UNISON welcomes Edinburgh Living Wage

Another reason why you should be in your union! UNISON has welcomed Edinburgh council’s intention to pay a minimum ‘living wage’ of £7.50 an hour to its lowest paid council workers from January. The union estimates 2,000 mainly low paid women will benefit. Andy Barnett, Edinburgh UNISON Branch Secretary, said: “This welcome announcement in Living Wage Week comes just after UNISON and the council agreed equal pay settlements for 3,000 low paid staff – another example of how much it benefits workers to be in their union.

“Edinburgh’s Labour and SNP ‘capital coalition’ have been as good as their word and have taken on board the argument UNISON made for the higher £7.50 minimum rate and early implementation.”

John Stevenson, Edinburgh UNISON Branch President, added:“We have long campaigned for a Living Wage and made detailed submissions to the council on the benefits it would bring not just for staff, but for Edinburgh’s local economy. All the research shows that workers spend any extra money locally giving a boost to the local shops and businesses that are so badly affected by the government’s austerity measures.

“The next step is to campaign for the Edinburgh Living Wage to apply to all contractors and to convince businesses across the city of the benefits of paying their staff a living wage.”